
Screening Tools for Integrated Care Providers
To identify symptoms early, screening for behavioral health conditions should be conducted universally for all adult patients and regularly, such as on an annual basis. Early detection helps address conditions before they worsen or become chronic, and regular screening for all patients helps capture conditions that patients may not self-report.

Identifying and Building on your Personal Strengths: A Tool for Improving Your Health
Indigenous people and communities have many unique strengths. The languages, cultural practices, strong social connections, and ceremonial customs ground health and well-being in important ways. In addition, personal characteristics, talents, and achievements add to one’s strengths that are important for health.
Here, we will consider how to build on our strengths as a tool for improving health. We will also discuss how to bring our strengths into visits with medical providers.

Destigmatizing Mental Health Care for Tribal Communities in the Primary Care Setting
It may come as a surprise, but mental health concerns are often shared in the primary care setting. Given the stigma that some may feel about visiting the behavioral health department or the distrust in sessions being confidential, mental health needs are often disclosed in medical appointments. For American Indians seeking behavioral health care services, the stigma associated with disclosing mental health needs is perhaps even more heightened due to other social factors. There may be cultural expectations of not discussing issues with others outside of the home, fear of bringing more illness or disease if it is discussed, or even societal influences that there is something “wrong” with you if you seek behavioral health services. Without an integrated healthcare setting, these mental health concerns may not be assessed or treated as appropriately as they need to be.

Using Telehealth in Integrated Care Settings
Telehealth has emerged as a potential mechanism to bring behavioral health services to remote and rural areas as well as to some urban areas where hiring can be difficult due to long commutes and other factors. A range of opportunities using various forms of technology are available to help fill gaps, moving from a continuum patient facing technology such as mobile apps, practice extenders that can provide online therapy options, to technologies to build primary care provider (PCP) competency to treat common, less complex conditions and finally, while less efficient, providing direct virtual visits.

Depression and Your Mental Health
Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Fortunately, it is also treatable. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease your ability to function at work and at home. Depression affects an estimated one in 15 adults (6.7%) in any given year with higher rates seen in the AI/AN population. Depression can occur at any time, but on average, first appears during the late teens to mid-20s. Women are more likely than men to experience depression.

The Comprehensive Healthcare Integration (CHI) Framework
The CHI was completed by an expert consensus panel in 2022 and is intended to advance beyond current and outdated frameworks for integrated primary care and behavioral health such as the SAMHSA 6 Levels of Integrated Care and the use of the Integrated Practice Assessment Tool (IPAT). Both tools as well as other measures of integrated care are over a decade in existence at this point and do not reflect the progress and research in integrated care, so an update was needed. It is applicable to adult and child populations, small and large providers, rural and urban locations, and organizations with varying levels of resources.

Leadership Success in Integrated Care Settings
A successful integrated care program requires careful attention to leadership which supports the planning, implementation, and ongoing success of the program. Integrated care is a new approach to healthcare for many and is a paradigm shift that requires real change in the way healthcare is delivered. Practicing this approach shifts historical and entrenched provider silos and how staff have been trained and funded to provide behavioral health care. Integrated care must address the change needed to shift habits and behaviors and encourage the team to stretch beyond the traditional boundaries of simply referring to specialty behavioral healthcare, practicing in a traditional therapy environment, and providing care in the fast-paced primary care setting.

Anxiety Conditions and Your Health
Anxiety conditions affects 1 in 10 people and can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, schoolwork, and relationships. They often go undiagnosed and untreated for years. Anxiety is a normal response to events in our lives but becomes more worrisome when it is out of proportion to the stressful situation, when it is minor and/or appears for no apparent reason, or persists when the stressful situation is over. A mix of genetic and environmental factors can raise a person’s risk for developing anxiety disorders. Anxiety can happen in both adults and children and often starts at an early age.
ResourceLibrary
This section provides templates, forms, job descriptions, and other administrative documents for grant administration staff. These resources offer guidance on providing program management, staff recruitment, organizational management, and establishment of partnerships with program stakeholders.